The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum eBook

Now it never does to let one’s wits go to sleep.
Some folks call it forgetting, but forgetting is nothing
but sleepy wits. And sleepy wits get more people
into trouble than anything else in the world.
Unc’ Billy Possum’s wits were asleep when
he left Farmer Brown’s hen-house. If they
hadn’t been, he would have remembered this little
saying:

The wits that live within
my head
Must never, never
go to sleep,
For if they should I might
forget
And Trouble on
me swiftly leap.

But Unc’ Billy’s wits certainly were asleep.
He was so tickled over the idea that he could get
out of the hen-house, that he couldn’t think
of anything else, and so he forgot. Yes, Sir,
Unc’ Billy forgot! What did he forget?
Why, he forgot that that nice, soft snow, which so
kindly buried the dreadful traps so that they could
do no harm, couldn’t be waded through without
leaving tracks. Unc’ Billy forgot all about
that, until he was half way to the Green Forest, and
then, as he sat down to rest and get his breath, he
remembered.

[Illustration: There all the way from Farmer
Brown’s hen-house was a broad trail in the smooth
white snow.]

Unc’ Billy looked behind him, and he turned
pale. Yes, Sir, Unc’ Billy Possum turned
pale! There, all the way from Farmer Brown’s
hen-house, was a broad trail in the smooth white snow,
where he had plowed his way through. If Farmer
Brown’s boy should come out to look at his traps,
he would see that track at once, and all he would have
to do would be to follow it until it led him to Unc’
Billy.

His wits were all wide awake now. It wouldn’t
do to go back. Farmer Brown’s boy would
see that he had gone back, and then he would hunt
that hen-house through until he found Unc’ Billy.
No, there was nothing to do but to go on, and trust
that Farmer Brown’s boy was so snowed in and
would be kept so busy shovelling out paths, that he
would forget all about looking at his traps. Unc’
Billy drew a long breath and began to wade ahead toward
the Green Forest.

“If Ah only had snowshoes!” he panted.
“If Ah only had snowshoes like Mrs. Grouse.”

XXI

FARMER BROWN’S BOY CHOPS DOWN A TREE

“There was an old Possum lived
up in a tree;
Hi,
ho, see the chips fly!
The sliest old thief that
you ever did see;
Hi,
ho, see the chips fly!
He ate and he ate in the dark
of the night,
And when the day came not
an egg was in sight,
But now that I know where
he’s making his bed,
I’ll do without eggs
and will eat him instead!
Hi,
ho, see the chips fly!”